


Running on Affection

by CalicoColors



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Affection, Dream Eater Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Fluff, Getting Together, Kissing, M/M, Post-DDD, affection curse but its in kh universe so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-13 03:02:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19242505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CalicoColors/pseuds/CalicoColors
Summary: After the Mark of Mastery exam, Riku is still feeling the effects of his time as a Dream Eater. For some reason, the longer he spends apart from others, the worse he feels.Of course, everything is blamed on allergies.





	Running on Affection

Soon after returning from the Sleeping Worlds, Riku almost passes out when he stands to greet Kairi.

She catches him as he stumbles, a sudden wave of dizziness washing over him. “Oh my god, are you okay?” Hurriedly, she starts patting down his arms, letting him sink to the floor on a knee so she doesn’t have to hold his whole weight up.

The feeling disappears as quickly as it came. Riku flexes his fingers, feeling the tingles fade away. That’s…never happened before. “Uh, yeah, sorry. Head rush.”

Kairi looks at him for a long moment before offering a grin. “Hitting the books a little too hard, huh?” She offers a helping hand up.

Riku can stand on his own fine now, but he takes it anyways, letting the warmth of the gesture wash away any lingering prickles under his skin. “Ha, guess I didn’t realize how long I was in here…”

It’s near-impossible to tell time in the tower—the only way he knows whether it’s day or night is that the stars will be slightly brighter or dimmer. Judging by the light of the window above his study nook, he estimates the time to be somewhere in the early morning.

 _Yikes_. No wonder he nearly fell flat. The last time he remembers it was midway through the _night_. Really, he should have been in bed hours ago, but he kept pushing himself for a few more chapters about whatever war or creature Yen Sid wanted him to read up on, studiously ignoring the ever-increasing pressure in his head.

Poor choices on his part…luckily, though, that strange, dizzying pressure has all but left now, leaving only the ache of over-tiredness behind. He completely forgot that Kairi was coming today to start her training because he’s been so busy with, well, busy work, pretty much.

Still, he can that all aside to properly greet one of his oldest friends. With a sudden wave of affection, he reaches out to fold Kairi into a strong hug. Kairi laughs and wraps herself in it happily.

Usually, Riku’s not the one to initiate any sort of contact, too many bad associations after too many years of closing himself off from others. It’s a hard habit to break when you’ve gone so long without it.

So he never reaches out first, no matter how much he wants to sometimes. But this is Kairi, who he’s known for years upon years and has never felt anything but light around her. A welcoming hug feels right to do. “It’s good to see you again,” Riku says warmly when he pulls away.

“You too!” She says back, then immediately starts to herd him towards the doors. “C’mon, lets go see if we can find the others and get this show on the road!”

Riku lets himself be pushed around by her impatience. “Excited much?”

“Am I ever!” Kairi says. “I can finally catch up to you guys! A real keyblade wielder.” There’s a dreamy tone to her words.

“You’ve always been a keyblade wielder, silly.” Riku directs her towards the staircase to Yen Sid’s room before she can wander off the wrong path. “You were always destined to be here, I think.”

“Yeah, but now I’m _official!_ I can train and learn how to fight and know about secret keyblade knowledge and knock you and Sora out while sparring—”

“Oh, getting a little cocky there, huh?” He doesn’t doubt it, though. She’s got enough determination to steamroll them twice over, if she puts her mind to it.

“You better watch out, is all I’m saying. Now, c’mon, c’mon!”

Riku laughs and chases after her, forgetting about any weird incidents in the study room. There are far more important things to worry about, after all.

* * *

The meeting with Yen Sid goes well. Kairi and Axel—or, Lea now, he supposes—are set to start training as proper Keyblade wielders, and he listens fondly at the excited way Kairi chatters on about it as they wander the halls.

They spend some time playing catch-up. He gives Kairi an impromptu tour of the tower, pointing out the common room and library and the creepy storage room that no one ever uses and makes strange noises sometimes. They trade stories of each other’s lives—he tells of the Sleeping Worlds and the dark forces they found there, and she lets him in on what’s happened back at the isles, like how Tidus slipped into a pond and nearly got his fingers bitten off by a vengeful flock of geese.

(“How did that even _happen_?”

“Minigolf,” is all Kairi says, as if that explained everything.)

Before they go their separate ways, he gives her one last hug before heading off to bed. Straining his way through those dry textbooks all night long was _really_ starting to take its toll on him. By the time he lays down, his head already feels overstuffed with cotton.

Huffing, Riku buries his head under the blankets. Now that Kairi’s here, he wonders when Sora will be back. Surely he’ll want to see her.

Or, would Sora want to see him, too? They didn’t get to talk very long after the disaster of the Mark of Mastery exam before Sora had rushed off, talking about needing to do _something really important, be right back!_

Riku hopes Sora’s okay wherever he decided to go. Really, there’s never a moment that Riku _doesn’t_ worry about Sora when he’s not in his direct line of sight. But no matter how much he always wants Sora by his side, Riku wasn’t one to be overbearing, so he trusts in Sora to come back safe.

There’s never really a moment when Riku isn’t missing Sora, either. He falls asleep still dreaming him home with his cotton-filled mind.

Sleep is on-off for a while until his body finally forces him to shut down for longer than an hour at a time, some restless, unnerved feeling keeping his mind working overtime.

When he wakes up next, feeling no better than before—actually, maybe _worse_ , the oh-so-delightful feeling of nausea keeping him company, wonderful—he looks at the clock with a groan and realizes how late he slept in. At this rate, he’ll turn into Sora by the end of the week.

He stumbles to the kitchen with a spinning head and legs that seem to have lost all feeling in them. Luckily, no one is there to see his fumbling, which gives him plenty enough time to compose himself but still makes him feel—bad, for some reason?

…bad at _what_ , though? It’s really very hard to think right now.

The kitchen feels too large with only him, and the pounding in his head only grows worse the longer he stands around. Riku starts to shake his head before wincing at the nausea it causes. What is _with_ him this week?

With a sigh, he goes to make something light to eat even though he doesn’t feel hungry in the slightest. Seriously, allergies have never hit him _this_ bad, not even during that awful spring where he missed two days of school because of that insane pollen windstorm.

Maybe it's not allergies, then. Maybe it's a cold, one that even Cure can't heal, which is even more annoying. But Riku can't afford to waste days in bed, so he's going to pretend like nothing is wrong and hope it just goes away on its own. It's worked before.

…kind of, anyways.

That plan goes out the window when he feels someone grab his shoulder, tugging him back just as he's about to unknowingly face plant into his fruit bowl. "Whoa-ho-ho, careful there!" Lea's voice says, and it's a testament to how out of it Riku is that he didn’t even hear him walk in.

Riku blinks at him, then at the hand still on his shoulder. His thoughts clear up a bit as he sits up straighter _._ "Uh, yeah. Thanks."

"Are you okay, Riku?" Kairi asks, and when did she get here? Has she been here the whole time? _Seriously, get it together._

Thankfully, though, the fog is slowly receding, so he tries for a smile that Sora would be proud of. "Just peachy." He plucks a peach slice and eats it just to be cheeky and to show that yes, he's doing just fine, thank you very much.

Kairi frowns harder. The smile didn’t fool her in the slightest; Riku knows what he looks like, and what he looks like is bright-eyed, ill, and awful. He saw the bags under his eyes and the dull pallor of his skin in the mirror, and if he noticed it then Kairi the ever perceptive can most certainly see right through him.

Also she most definitely saw Riku nearly brain himself on a pineapple not even five minutes ago while on the verge of passing out _again_ , so he’s basically screwed no matter what he says. If this headache would just _go away_ then maybe he could _actually think…_

She reaches out to place a hand on his forehead and holy _hell_ , the fog that has been bugging him all night suddenly wisps away with a note of finality. He groans at the sudden lifting of its weight and can't stop himself from leaning into the hand hard. Oh, it feels _incredible_ to finally be on the ground again after what felt like hours drifting in the clouds.

The second he realizes what he's doing, he snaps his eyes open (when did they close? What is going on with him?!) and pulls back, feeling a flush creep up his neck. Kairi stares at him, confused, which is _mortifying_. Lea crosses his arms with a bemused look.

"Yeah, you're as peachy as cherry pie. Which is, not at all." Lea drawls.

Riku quickly scrubs the lingering embarrassment away and pushes himself up, taking three big steps away to avoid any more potential awkwardness. "I just didn’t sleep well. It's probably allergies acting up or something."

"We live in an isolated tower in the middle of nowhere with a literal wizard," Kairi says flatly.

Riku scratches the back of his neck. "So? There's still trees outside. You know me and oak don't get along."

She still doesn’t look convinced. "I think you should take it easy today. That felt like a fever. Have you tried Heal or Cure yet?"

"Of course I have, who do you think I am?" Cure and Heal aren’t his best magics, but he's forced himself to become proficient at them due to the disaster instincts of a certain spiky-haired brunet. If Sora gets knocked down in battle it's up to him to help him back up, a job he takes pride in even if it takes years off his life from worry every time it happens.

"Maybe it's some weird bug," Lea butts in. "There's a few that can be pretty resistant to magic. Trust me, I know from experience."

Kairi opens her mouth as if to ask but decides to leave that one for another day. She looks pensive and determined, which is a recipe for disaster when it's directed towards him. "I really think you need to sleep this off, Riku. That means, no going out and running three miles for the heck of it then going to training for two hours straight or whatever.”

“Hey, running is good for you,” he protests. Which, wait, _not the point_ right now. “I’ve been sleeping for too long already and it hasn’t helped. I technically slept through _my entire exam.”_

“Yeah, and you fought off about three billion denizens of darkness in there. That doesn’t count! You need uninterrupted, heartless-less, stress-free _sleep_.”

“There’s too much to do!” Riku says, feeling starbursts explode behind his eyes. This argument is _pointless_. “Look, I think being active right now is the best way to get rid of it.”

She doesn’t look convinced. “Maybe we should talk to Yen Sid. This can’t be normal…”

“I’m _fine,”_ he stubbornly refuses. “It’s nothing _._ Don’t bother him with this, please.”

For a second, Kairi looks truly frustrated, and he’s afraid she’s going to storm off and do it anyways. But suddenly, he can see a lightbulb flicker on above her head as she smirks in a way that makes him nervous. That look only ever spells trouble.

"I'll tell Sora, too."

"You'll tell him regardless," Riku says, crossing his arms. It's not like he'll be able to hide it, even if he is just a little worried at the lecture Sora would have prepared for him. He can already see the pout and frustrated eyebrows in his mind’s eye.

"Well, yeah, but it's up to you whether or not I tell him that you were resting all day and feeling better for it, or that you were being a stubborn jerk who collapsed during training because he's too dumb to listen to his body when it tells him something is wrong."

 _Damn_. She got him there. When Kairi makes a threat, it's not an empty one, and it's not like he’s any good at lying. She'll tell the whole truth and nothing but, and he can either be greeted with a disappointed frown or a worried grin when Sora comes back.

There's an obnoxiously loud crunch echoing in the room as Lea steals the apple from his bowl. "Listen to her. We don't want you spreading your gross sick germs everywhere, capiche?"

Riku sighs again, leaning against the countertop. His head is starting to spin again. "I'm not getting out of this one, am I?"

* * *

In the end, he convinces Kairi that it's just allergies and that he's going to do some studying instead of the training he had planned. Any other day, he would have argued it into the ground and probably still would have lost, but at least he would have put _effort_ into it.

Now, he can barely manage to drag himself away from the kitchen, each step feeling like his shoes are gradually being filled with lead. _Some Keyblade Master he’s turning out to be…_

He can't sneak away either, because she tells him in no uncertain terms that if she even sees his face near the training grounds she can and will find some way to call Sora home early. Because even though he’s defeated terrifying creatures of darkness and evil, nothing is scarier than disappointing Sora, even if it’s about his own health.

He tries to study for about an hour, writing up plans and schedules between sections to break up the monotony. The words start blurring together after an hour, and he snaps the pencil lead three times from pressing too hard on the paper before giving up with a shaky sigh.

“First day as a master and I’m already grounded…” he says to himself, holding his aching head in his hand. “Woohoo.”

Doubts start wavering in and out of his conscious again but don’t settle. The memory of the pride on Mickey’s face and the excitement on Sora’s chases away his hesitation.

With a faint smile, he tries to keep the memory in mind for as long as he can hold it before the dizziness returns. And with it, nothingness.

“Wish you were here,” he whispers to no one while thinking of everyone. His heart pulses uncomfortably in his chest.

Even though his body screams for sleep, his mind _just_ _won’t stop running._ It refuses to settle—he thinks about textbooks and Keyblades and the color purple and Gummiship aerodynamics and Sora.

He misses—worries— _loves_ —

—he just…needs to rest.

It’s the last coherent thought he has for a while.

The door creaks open whatever-sometime later as Riku is lying in bed and trying to focus on breathing instead of anything else. He's already shut the blinds as tight as they'll close, and he shivers under the covers even though his skin feels tight and overheated.

There's something wrong, something really horribly _wrong_ , but he can't _figure it out_ because his brains feel both scrambled and hardboiled all at once.

Whatever cold he has, it's not like any others before it. It's pressure and crushing and churning and he's drifting, untethered from land, constantly falling without any hope of flying.

"Riku?" Sora's voice—lilting, slightly scratchy, with those gentle, steadily-growing undertones he so loves—is the first thing to break through the fog in however long. Time doesn’t really make sense the way he’s drifting in the clouds right now, and he wouldn’t care even if he knew.

Something is missing, and he doesn’t know, he doesn’t know how to fix it and _god_ , it’s so hard to think.

But even if he lost every part of himself, he would know Sora. He hums in lieu of response, not having the energy to do much else. The footsteps pad softly in his direction. Riku tracks them intently—they sound so solid and real, when everything else is entirely _not_.

The bed dips as another body joins it, and Riku falls back a little in the depression it makes. "Hey, what's wrong?" Now his voice sounds worried, which Riku hates to hear. He doesn’t want Sora to worry any more, especially not over him.

A hand brushes his neck, trailing up to his face, and he gasps as the warmth of it sinks into him like the best Cura spell in the world. The muddle he's been trudging through melts away, and the sudden rush of clarity is so _reliving_ in its intensity.

Sora pulls away, probably thinking his gasp to be one of pain, but Riku reaches out quick as a flash to grab him back with hands that have regained their strength.

“Sora…” Riku mumbles with reverence. He can’t see his face in the dim lighting, but the way his eyes are able to focus now gives him enough to fill the details in.

It’s light. It’s warmth. It’s _Sora_.

Sora’s other hand moves to stroke his shoulder. He hums again as the familiar pressure of it relieves more of it in his head.

“Kairi told me you weren’t feeling well,” Sora says. “What’s going on, Riku?”

“Mmm, it’s just allergies,” Riku says with a throat dry from not speaking. “I’m feeling better now, though. How was your trip?”

“Good!” Sora pulls his hands away, and Riku makes a strong sound of disagreement as they do. Sora’s voice is confused but teasing, saying, “Just a moment, just a moment, I’ll be right back.”

He casts a gentle light spell to leave a few balls of magic to float softly in the bedroom, not strong enough to bother Riku but just bright enough to see Sora fully.

And what a sight he is. Looking the same as he always does, a sunny smile shining away all the dizzy spots in his mind. Riku feels an anxious part of his heart calm and a soft smile build. Sora just has that effect on people. Or maybe just on him.

He looks uninjured, too, which further settles his fears. Still, he has the urge to reach out and make sure for himself. What if it’s something Riku can’t see?

Sora kicks off his shoes before lounging in the spot next to him. “I went to see my Dream Eaters in Traverse Town. They we all there! Cheesecake, Bumpis, Snappy, your Aura Lion that you still haven’t told me the name of so I just call Fluffy—they all came to say hello!”

Riku laughs, shifting closer. “I’m glad to hear they’re okay! Did Apricot miss me?” He says it jokingly, but in his heart he honestly wants to know if his Komory Bat missed him as much as Riku missed it.

“They all missed you! Every time I mentioned you they perked up like they were expecting you to appear right there.”

The fact that Sora talked about him to his Dream Eaters is so adorable that Riku hides his face in Sora’s shoulder to stop his blush from being too obvious. “I should go visit them…I missed them, too.”

“We can go together next time.” Sora’s hand starts stroking though his hair, which is, wow, _amazing._ They all know magic, but Sora’s brand of it is his favorite out of all of them. His headache’s as good as gone by this point.

Riku feels like he should be worried at how close they are right now, but he’s far too content to care. If Sora didn’t mind, he would have pulled away, right?

He tilts his eyes up to see Sora giving him an imploring look. “What?” Riku asks.

“ _So_ , what’s your Aura Lion’s name?”

“Not telling.” He’d die of embarrassment before ever telling Sora that he named one of his Dream Eaters after him.

Sora sticks out his tongue at him. “I’ll get you to spill the beans eventually. _Fiiine,_ then what did Master Yen Sid say?”

“Didn’t Kairi already give you the run down?”

“Nah, we just chatted for a while. When I heard about you I came straight here.”

Riku swallows a lump in his throat at that. How is Sora always so thoughtful, and sweet, and unintentionally sending his heart spiraling towards somewhere soft and hopeful? There’s probably never been a time that Riku hasn’t been head over heels for him, that everything he does makes Riku’s thoughts spin with fondness.

Still, he pushes those feelings down. A friend helping a friend, nothing more, and he’ll always be happy with that as long as he can stay by Sora’s side.

Feeling more relaxed than he has in ages, Riku shifts ever closer. “Well, do you remember the time on the play island when we were really young, and we met those strangers…”

* * *

Sometime around the part where Sora’s recounting his memories of the Symphony of Sorcery—“There was a _huge_ field with clouds and rainbows, but I couldn’t find any pots of gold!”—Riku falls asleep to the tune of Sora’s hand in his hair and his warmth by his side as much as he tries to stay awake.

He dreams of a Heartsong waltz, the melody soft and familiar, while he dances in royal clothes with a sky-eyed brunet as his Dream Eaters cheer and chirrup around him.

And in the morning, Riku wakes to faint starshine glittering through the blinds and himself wrapped around Sora, fit snugly in his arms.

Riku immediately feels his skin heat up. _Oh_. Sora huffs softly in sleep where his head is tucked in his neck, the arm lazily tossed over Riku’s middle lying strong as it moves in time to Riku’s tensed breathing. It’s _so comfortable_. He seriously doesn’t think he’s ever been more comfortable than he is now in his entire life. His hold tightens a bit, wanting to stay in this bubble of warmth and safety for as long as possible. Maybe forever if they have the time.

But it’s also _embarrassing_ because Riku had unconsciously clung to Sora like a limpet, and—oh, no, what if Sora doesn’t like it? What if he’ll be horrified when he wakes up? Stupid, _stupid_. Riku really needs to keep his feelings better in check so this doesn’t happen again.  

Carefully, he moves the leg he crossed over Sora’s and tries to untangle the rest of himself without waking the other up, even if his heart wants nothing more than to _stay, stay._

Of course, because Sora never does anything by the book, he manages to wake up just as Riku starts to move his arm up and off. Sora, the guy who can sleep though torrential hurricanes wakes up at the slightest touch _now_ , because the universe hates Riku that much.   

Riku freezes in place, watching the way Sora’s eyes blink open, the moment he realizes what’s happening, and he waits with bated breath for his reaction because _he really messed up this time_ —

But, instead of the awkwardness he expects, Sora cuddles closer, repositioning his arm and keeping him pulled in like a Magnet spell. “G’morning, Riku.” _That_ sends Riku’s heart into a tizzy, that adorably murmured whisper sending shivers over the patch of skin where Sora’s breath brushed over. 

“Good morning,” he says, high pitched. _Keep it casual. Stay cool._

They lie there peacefully for a while—well, as peaceful as Riku can be in his nervous-overjoyed-adoring state—before Sora rolls out of the pile with a reluctant groan, complaining about needing to eat.

Riku stays for another second, trying to process what, exactly, is going on and telling his racing heart to _calm the hell down_. Eventually he follows, wondering if he’s still dreaming.

Surprisingly, Riku doesn’t feel dizzy anymore. Actually, he feels better than he has in _days_. Guess not thinking about it actually worked this time.

“So what’s the plan for today?” Sora asks with a gross half-chewed mouthful of toast. Riku grimaces and pushes his shoulder as Sora laughs.

He takes a slice of melon for himself. “Well, I’ve got to start training a little more before leaving for the the Dark Realm. I’ve already missed a lot of time. You have get briefed by Yen Sid, too.”

Sora hums. “He’s probably gonna send me on a mission once Donald and Goofy show back up.” He looks to the side to stare Riku down. “You’re _sure_ you’re feeling better?”

“I’m fine, really. It’s all gone now,” he waves off Sora’s concern. Sora watches him for a moment longer before his smile returns like the sun.

“Alright, I believe you! Oh, can I have my hand back for a sec, I need a drink.”

“Your hand? What—“ Riku looks down to see his right hand holding the melon and the other—holding Sora’s?

Riku blinks at it blankly, watching as Sora slips away from his sudden slack grip to run to the fridge. When had he grabbed Sora’s hand? He didn’t remember reaching out for it. Or ever feeling it. It was just…there. Like it had been there forever. Like it had always belonged there.

Sliding back in the seat with a _whump_ , Sora grabs back his hand, and now that Riku is aware of it he can feel the hard calluses, the strong grip, the warm-comforting weight. It’s really, really nice. He grips back, feeling tingles run up his arm, that sense of belonging singing.

The moment is soon broken by Sora. “I think this tower is haunted,” he wonders out loud.

Riku forces away any lingering reservations and tries to focus on the conversation. “What makes you say that?”

“That creepy storage room! It’s always making noise, and no one’s ever in it! Also, when I woke up I couldn’t find one of my gloves, so I think it was stolen. That’s like, classic ghost move.”

“Only you would blame losing your gloves on _ghosts,”_ Riku scoffs. Well, if Sora isn’t going to mention it, then he won’t either.

The morning flies by in a blur after that. Yen Sid calls Sora away to brief him once Donald and Goody arrive, and Riku heads down to the training room to warm up. He’s already missed a lot of time and there’s no telling what the Dark Realm has in store for him, so he needs to practice all he can before then.

Kairi and Lea are set to join him sometime in the afternoon after they finish a few errands, where he and Mickey will start reviewing some techniques to get some practice in before they’re sent off to train at Merlin’s. Sora might hop in, too, if he doesn’t have to leave just yet.

Of course, this plan goes straight out the window when a wave of dizziness hits him _completely_ out of the blue like a Gummiship at mach speed. All his strength just—abandons him suddenly, his Keyblade falling to the ground in a glitch of light halfway through a broad sweep.

Drops of sweat fall on to his hands braced on the mat, and he shakes his head roughly which, _no_ , _mistake,_ sends his brains sloshing around in his skull like thick smoothie.

He leans against a dummy and counts his breaths, trying to let the vertigo out with each shaky exhale.

Something is actually, annoyingly _wrong_ , and it pisses him off.

This really fucking _sucks._

* * *

“It seems your time as a Dream Eater has had more of an effect on you than I thought,” Yen Sid says.

“What do you mean?” Sora asks from beside Riku, who’s clutching one of his hands like a lifeline as the nausea gradually ebbs and flows away like ocean waves.

Bad enough that _Mickey_ had to be the one to find him practically passed out in the training room. Even worse that Kairi had to drag him by his lapels here, because it was _“the last straw”_ apparently.

Easily the most awful part was that they had to pass by Sora in the hall, who nearly fell over himself with worry to toss one of Riku’s arms over his shoulder to help.

Well—that part wasn’t too bad. Even the thought of it keeps the dizzy tide from cresting again.

Now, practically everyone he knows is crammed into Yen Sid’s office to watch him fall apart over _literally nothing_. Fan-freaking-tastic. He wants to leave, to force them to stop staring at him like that, but his _condition_ keeps him rooted to the spot, even if it’s starting to abate.

Riku focuses back on Yen Sid’s words as he continues speaking. “As I am sure you are aware, Dream Eaters have the unique ability to survive on nightmares and affinity. The more nightmares they consume and the higher their affinity, the more powerful they are. Without them, they gradually weaken in strength over time.

“I had assumed Riku would be immune to this, seeing as to the exclusivity of his form in relation to Sora’s dreams, but this phenomenon has been undocumented up until now and as such we do not know everything. What you are feeling right now, Riku, is likely a side effect of the Dream Eater’s abilities—the need for affinity, in particular.”

There’s a slight pause as the words sink in. He can’t mean…

“Are you saying the reason I’m like this is because _I’m not getting enough pets?”_ Riku practically yells, and immediately feels his face flare up as Lea bursts out laughing.

This is so much worse than a cold. He would rather be dying of strep throat or a twisted ankle or even _pneumonia_ than have to deal with _this._

Riku casts a short glance around the room from between his fingers. The redhead duo are snickering in the corner, Mickey looks positively neutral about it all, Yen Sid’s as blank as ever, and Sora still has a thinking face on. He still hasn’t let go of his hand, even though Riku’s feeling almost normal now.

But if feeling okay isn’t going to be the new normal anymore… “Is it…is this going to happen forever?” How will he go on missions if he gets separated from others and messes up in the heat of battle? Is he a risk now? What good is he if he can’t help?

“No,” Yen Sid says, and Riku breathes a sigh of relief. “I am certain this is only occurring now due to how recent the event was. Even now I can sense the effects wearing off. Within the week, I expect you to be back to your old self.”

“Until then, we just need to stay close, right?” Sora finally speaks up, a grin starting to form.

“Yeah, can’t let the Dream Eater go without his daily dose of cuddles,” Lea snickers.

Riku glowers back. “Shut _up_.” Great. Just _great_. This is going to be as awful as he thought it would be.

The jokes at his expense are going to be relentless, and Riku is already dreading the week ahead. It’s going to be weird and awkward and Riku’s probably going to pass out at multiple points out of sheer stubbornness because there’s _no way_ he wants anyone to have to deal with him right now.

From the side, Sora catches his eye and sends him a smile that delivers comforting sparks over his nerves. Riku tries one back, but it probably looks more like a grimace.

They’re _still_ pressed so close together. Even when this conversation threatens to send him drifting, Sora’s presence manages to bring him back and tether him to land.

“I apologize for not allowing you ample time to recover after your ordeal,” Yen Sid says. “Therefore, I will make it mandatory now. Training will continue as normal, but must not be overdone. Sora and Riku, you are temporarily exempt from this.”

“But—“ Riku starts to retort. “What about the Realm of Darkness? There’s no time. I can do it, trust me.”

Mickey surreptitiously waves his hands around, a clear gesture to _stop_ , and Riku cringes. Arguing with a wizard who’s very much higher ranked than Riku is a one-way ticket to a lecture and dish duty.

Yen Sid’s expression doesn’t change. “I do not doubt your abilities, Riku. However, your health is priority. If you are not well, then you will not be able to face the dangers the future tells of.”

As much as he wants to keep protesting, to insist that he can _prove himself_ , he wisely closes his mouth. The master has a point, as much as Riku doesn’t want to admit it.

Interestingly, Sora doesn’t argue. Riku would have thought that Sora would be chomping at the bit to meet up with Donald and Goofy to head out. He loves traveling, and as much as Riku hates to see him go he loves to see Sora happy more.

But Riku had seen the impact that the Sleeping Worlds had on him, the hunted, faraway look in his gaze he had for hours after they left the last world. Even now Riku still catches him looking off blankly with tensed shoulders when he thinks no one is looking. Sora needs this break as much as Riku apparently does.

Sora does speak up, though. “Of course, Master! Thank you,” Sora says, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Can we be excused now?”

Yen Sid nods, and Sora immediately starts dragging him outside the room. Riku hears the others start to talk, but he ignores them and focuses on is what’s in front of him and not tripping over his feet.

Though he catches Kairi’s wink at him from the corner of his eye. Which, no, _it’s not like that!_

“Oof—hey, Sora, slow down! Where are you taking me?” Riku asks after he’s been dragged up two flights of stairs and past a library.

Sora pauses by a bookshelf to give him a thousand-watt grin. “Well, you only need to be around people, right? So let’s go on vacation!”

Riku huffs a laugh. Typical Sora. Of course he’d want to go out—he’s been begging Riku to travel to other worlds with him, but there’s been no time for relaxing in such a long time. But now, forced into mandatory break-time, they have no choice _but_ to relax.

The thought of being around strangers does nothing for him, but the thought of Sora there is comforting. “Where to?”

Sora hums and swings their arms together as they walk, still linked. “I really wanted to take you to some of the worlds I’ve visited, but we only have a few days and Donald and Goofy have my ship. Plus, you need to be resting. So how about we visit some of our Sleeping Worlds?”

His tone is bright and earnest with a hopeful note in it. As if Riku would ever say no to him. Especially to that face, which Sora _knows_ is a weak point of his.

Another warm pulse of affection envelops his heart, cotton-soft, imagining exploring side-by-side with his favorite person in their dreams. He smiles.

“Well, you _did_ make that field of clouds sound very nice…”

* * *

They visit Traverse Town first to meet with their Dream Eaters. Apricot nearly bowls Riku over in their excitement, the small bat chirruping happily as they snuggle into their favorite spot on Riku’s neck.

Then Riku’s _actually_ bowled over by one overly-excitable Aura Lion.

Sora is endlessly amused by this, laughing heartedly. “I _told_ you they missed you!”

Riku’s voice is muffled by the purring bundle of fur flopped over him as he tries (and fails) to push the cuddly Dream Eater off. “Yeah, I see that—Sora, _Sora,_ I missed you too buddy, but _please_ let me up!”

He doesn’t even realize what he said until he manages to squirm a little ways out from under the lion to see a wicked grin on actual Sora’s face, like a cat that just got the cream. “ _Oh?_ What was that I heard?”

 _Oh, no, no._ As promised, Riku begins the slow process of dying of embarrassment, slowly suffocating in the soft fluff of the Aura Lion. “Nothing. Nope. Nada. You heard nothing.”

Mercilessly, his Eaglider pulls him out by the back of his shirt, cawing cheerily. Sora leans over him, Bumpis under one arm and the other petting his Yoggy Ram, as Riku tries in vain to hide his flush with Apricot’s wings perched on his head.

“Rikuuu, that’s so sweet! You named a Dream Eater after me!” Sora says, hauling his terminally-dying self up the rest of the way, not even giving him the respect to suffer in peace. He leans in close and speaks in a stage-whisper with a sly smile. “I wanted to name my Ryu Dragon after you, but I thought that might be too confusing so I just call him Ku.”

Riku giggles in an entirely undignified and unlike way of his. That’s a nickname Riku hasn’t heard in a while, not since childhood, and it makes his chest go all soft and fond at hearing it, at how Sora had missed him.

He wants to say something, too, to let his steadily growing affection free, something nice and sweet the way Sora always does. Riku opens his mouth to speak, just say _something, anything_ —

—and he’s knocked off his feet _again_ by Ku, barreling into him like the worlds happiest torpedo.

One laughing fit later, they head over to The Grid. Riku wins three light cycle races in a row (“Cheater, my side didn’t have these!” Sora complains) until Sora gets the hang of it and flattens him in the next two.

He celebrates by making Riku buy him sweets in La Cite des Cloches (“I won more than you, though,” Riku says, but still forks over the munny when Sora busts out the pleading eyes) where they split pastries and try to guess the filling flavors as they sit up top the chapel. Sora leans against his shoulder as they chat, and Riku focuses on the clouds or the birds instead of the way his heart skips beats at the pleasant weight of him.

They sword fight in the Country of the Musketeers, cheered on by the King—or, just Mickey in this world, which is still weird to think—and the other two wise guys. Riku manages to narrowly sweep Sora’s legs and pin him down after a heated battle, hands entangled and breaths heavy. Even though he lost, Sora is grinning, breathless and beet-red with sweat, gorgeous and beautiful and—

Riku stammers out a snarky compliment and lets him go before he can do something stupid like kiss him until he’s breathless for _other_ reasons, reminding himself that fantasies will always be just that, fantasy. Also, that he’s not going to go and humiliate himself in public company.

Sora encourages him to ride a rollercoaster in Prankster’s Paradise (which Riku _did not_ scream on and _was not_ afraid of, no matter what Sora says). They go exploring in some nearby caves by the water, slipping on wet rocks and looking for trinkets and shells in the twisting tunnels. The cool breeze from the ocean reminds him of the sun-bleached sand and palm trees of home.

Their last stop is the much-awaited Symphony, where they hop between both sides and show off their favorite parts of each. The golden wood is breezy and warm, and Sora delights in running up the twisted branches and doing tricks off the big leaves. 

Likewise, Riku is mystified by the cloudwalk, gently jumping on the puffy vapors and surprised when he doesn’t fall through. But he loves the glen the most, gently drizzling rain falling softly through the air, plastering their hair to themselves. He loves how it makes Sora laugh, the way he tilts his face up into the spray and lets the water rush over him, carefree and light, and the way his clothes stick to his skin and shape his form.

When they grow tired of exploring, they rest in the moonlight wood after hours of jumping worlds, where they lie on their backs and watch the way the fireflies dance and shimmer, reveling in the comfortable silence between them.

As Yen Sid predicted, with each day Riku feels better and better, and can spend more time away from others without feeling like dirt when they aren’t out exploring. He sees a few of the others in passing between dreams, and everyone is casually friendly—a pat on the back from Kairi here, a patronizing head pat from Lea there, a handshake from the King and even a high five from one of the brooms in the hallway.

It’s strange to have so much time on his hands all of a sudden. There’s a few jokes, but they’re in fun rather than cruel. There’s time to talk, to laugh, to be…well, _happy_ in a way he hasn’t truly felt for a long time.

All this because of some weird after-effects…silly, but effective.

He’s knocked out of his thoughts by a thump from under the bed springs. Right now, him and Sora are relaxing (not like they’ve been doing much else) in Riku’s room after dinner, where everyone had gathered to swap stories and flick peas at each other like they were five and wanted to bother each other for the fun of it.

Sora lost a sock—seriously, how does he keep losing only _one_ out of every pair he owns—so the brunet is currently hunting for it under the bed. Though why the sock would be in Riku’s room and not his _own_ is beyond him.

(Nevermind the fact that Sora hasn’t slept in his own room for days by this point. Remembering that will only make him think sappy things that he very much can’t focus on right now.)

“Oh, there it is!” Sora says, popping back up from under the bed with a dust-covered sock and his missing glove. “Guess a ghost _didn’t_ steal it, you and your flailing limbs just knocked it off the bed.”

“Me? _You’re_ the restless one,” Riku exclaims. As long as he’s known Sora, he’s never seen his best friend slow down for more than a minute at a time. Even in the dead of night he flops around and rolls over as if he can’t relax. Riku knows because it always woke him up on sleepover nights whenever Sora kicked him in sleep.

The only time he’s ever been calm was…

_Pods. Machines. Weeks. Months. Loneliness. Guilt. An entire year._

_My turn to save you._

No, don’t think about that.

“Yeah? Then who was the one cuddling me like the world’s most comfortable Kooma Panda last night, huh?” Sora smirks. Riku immediately goes red and looks away.

“Ah, hm, sorry about that.” Riku goes quiet and focuses on fixing his sheets. There’s a sigh behind him that sends a jolt of nervous fear through him—Sora must be so annoyed at having to do all this, not leaving him alone for more than an hour at time.

“I _told_ you I don’t mind! In fact, it was actually really nice.”

Riku glances up from mindlessly fluffing pillows. “…really?”

Sora nods quickly. “Really, really! It was so comfortable…I missed being with you.” A gentle smile. “You always feel like home. It’s amazing how you always manage to find some way to make me smile or keep me safe and…it was so nice.”

The dreamy note in his voice dances and chitters in the air around him, so melodic and soft it warms him to his very core, the one that always reaches for Sora. Riku feels a blush of happiness wrap around him like a favorite blanket. This is all backwards— _Sora’s_ the one that makes _him_ feel that way!

This is so much to process, so much warmth and _love_ —it’s love, no doubt, whole and unmarred love coursing through Riku’s veins—he wants to say it back, he wants to reach out, he wants to move closer, lean in, gaze into his favorite shade of blue with half-lidded eyes, hear their song _sing_ as he closes the distance—

Instead, Riku just—freezes, like he always does, pillow in his tightly-wound grasp. God. What should he _say?_

Abruptly, the anxious energy in his chest sends a few painful cracks of headache in his skull, and Riku winces. Sora notices, despite Riku’s best attempts at hiding it.

“Oh, haha, uhm—I’m sorry if that weirded you out,” Sora says, scratching the back of his neck. “I just kinda…kept talking there.”

“No!” Riku unfreezes, intent on proving Sora wrong. “No, it wasn’t weird at all! It’s just—it’s funny, you’re the same way for me. You feel the same way.”

Sora stares at him, eyes wide and endless, and Riku can’t keep it bottled inside anymore. Maybe it’s his Dream Eater self that’s giving him all this sudden courage, or maybe it was Sora’s words. Maybe both.

Whatever it is, it lets his heart finally speak out.

“You’ve always felt like clouds, to me. Just following wherever the breeze takes you. But you’ve never overshadowed the sun, you just…accented it. Made it shine brighter. Lighter. Beautiful and unreachable, like you’d fade away at a glance or I’d burn up at the touch. And I’ve always—always loved watching the sky…”

Sora only looks more and more worried the longer Riku stutters his way through this eloquent disaster of a metaphor. For once, why can’t he just _say_ what he’s feeling and not have it come out all mashed together and nonsensical? Not for the first time, he wishes he had Sora’s way with words, how he can speak with his heart and not overthink it in his mind.

He pauses for a moment to reign in his spaghettified thoughts. Comes up with nothing.

Instead, he reaches out a hand to lay it gently on Sora’s chest, just above his quick-beating heart. There, the words fall into place. “You’re everything to me.”

And really, that’s all there is too it.

Sora just stares at him and Riku can’t read his expression—angry? Sad? Nervous? _What is it?_ —but the longer they stand there the more worried he gets, the bottom dropping out of his stomach as if it was still falling from the rollercoaster. He said it all wrong, so badly, Sora _knows_ now and Riku made it _awkward_ and creepy and—

—his thoughts abruptly come to a complete stop when Sora leans in and presses his lips against his.

If being away from others makes his head ache like an overfilled water balloon, then being kissed makes his heart _burst_ with joy. There’s swirls and loops of feeling rushing through him, over his skin or down his nerves and spiraling and twisting and _is this really happening? Did this just happen? Did he REALLY—_

He barely registers Sora pulling away, still feeling the sunburn on his lips, stuck in place from his brain overheating.

“Is that—did I read it wrong?” Sora’s voice is hesitant, quiet, and Riku mentally crashes back to reality in his mind at the knee-jerk reaction of _NO_ he feels.

Talking is too hard. Thinking is too much. So, he just _acts_.

Sora’s eyes glitter like sunlight on ocean waves as Riku leans in again, this time for real, giving their second kiss all he has to give. Which is a _lot_ (read: years) of overly-affectionate and undeniably-sappy imaginings of how this would have gone. He tries to pour all his feelings into this one moment to show Sora this, to prove without words how deep this runs, how much he _feels._

It’s weird at first—he rushed in too fast, their teeth clacking for a moment before he pulls back—but then it _glides_ , his bitten lips chapped and catching but the pressure of Sora’s warm and smooth and, and he’s _so nervous_ but it’s _so good_. This could be the worst kiss of his life but it would still be the best because it’s Sora and just _is._

Riku feels his blood pound in his fingertips, the warmth of Sora’s skin, the way Sora’s hands tighten in his jacket sleeve to pull him ever so slightly to the side which is, _yes,_ so much better, so amazing, and he’s never been so happy to be falling as he is in this moment.

An eternity and a half pass before they part, Sora’s breath shuddering out against his lips in heady pants. Riku isn’t any better off. Pressed together, he breathes in warm air, feeling his skin tingle and his lungs shake.

Sora’s eyes open slowly and now, Riku sees what he couldn’t before. The gentle warmth in them, that overwhelming fondness, the way he looks like Riku had just made all his dreams come true and more.

Riku doesn’t know what he did to deserve that look, to deserve _Sora,_ but if Sora believes he’s good enough then how can he be anything else?

“Wow,” Sora says, all awestruck wonder. “That was… _wow_.”

Riku’s still a million miles away from any form of speech, so he just hums. _Wow_ , indeed.

Sora leans back, keeping himself pressed tight but not so close that they’re still sharing breath, gazing at him from under his eyelashes with a smile. “I think I definitely felt _everything_ in that kiss.”

Riku laughs under his breath and can’t resist teasing him. “I don’t know, maybe you should try it again. Just to make sure you get the full experience.”

“Ooo, someone’s got _jokes_.” The smirk on his face is so goading Riku wants to kiss him again to wipe it off. Which he actually _can_ now. He’s allowed to just _do that._

“Please, I’ve always had the best jokes. Also, that was flirting. I’m _flirting_ with you, numbskull.”

“You have such a romantic way with words. I’m swooning,” Sora deadpans, dragging his hands up Riku’s arms and leaning in further as if to fall in his arms. There’s a waiting, expectant grin on his face that Riku is all too happy to indulge in.

Before they meet again, Sora speaks in the space between their lips. “So, always, huh?”

“It was never any other way,” Riku says. He feels the blush of affection, hears the rhythm of their hearts, the bursts of electricity between them and the glow of the sun under his hands. He falls into Sora’s embrace and lets him wash away any doubts and replace them with _love, love, love._

* * *

"It’s those storage room ghosts for real this time!” Sora fumes as he hunts up and down the stairwell.

Riku peers over the railing for the umpteenth time, seeing only stairs, stairs, and more stairs. “I think it’s just your clumsy feet tripping and dropping all of your laundry in literally the worst place you could possibly drop it.”

“That rug has it out for me and you know it,” Sora huffs. “Now my boyfriend too? I’m _hurt.”_

A bubble of happiness pops softly in his chest at that. _Boyfriend._ That means that this is all real, that this _really actually happened._ Sora keeps saying it, too, as if he can’t believe it either.

Sora must catch his fond thoughts written on his face because he gently shoulder-checks him on the way down and sticks close by, their hands brushing with every step. The side effects of being a Dream Eater wore off a while ago, but Sora’s touch still sends off supernovas in him. It probably always will.

Riku doesn’t necessarily _need_ the affection anymore, but he receives it readily without ever asking for it. A reminder he’s cared for, that he’s not the dark enemy or the weird ally, that he’s someone worthwhile and someone that belongs.

And he’s certainly not going to complain about the way Sora indulges him in loving kisses and touches, or the way he never moves back to his room except to haul his stuff over.

Well, _almost_ all his stuff. Because somewhere between their rooms he manages to lose _both_ his gloves, one shoe, a pair of shorts, and half of all his socks. Which is why they’re here now.

“Maybe you should go ask the ghosts where they hid it all, then,” Riku asks. He finds a sock stuck between the railing bars somewhere on the fourth—fifth? How many levels is this tower again?—floor.

Sora shivers. “I’d rather be here for eight hours straight sock-hunting then spend a minute in that room, thanks.”

Riku just laughs and pulls him in with an arm around his shoulders, reveling in the way Sora relaxes at the touch or the way his brows uncurl when he presses a kiss to them.

“Don’t worry,” Riku says. “I’ll help you look.”

**Author's Note:**

> AU where there’s a rest-and-relaxation gap between DDD and KH3 because these kids deserve a break, c’mon.
> 
> I hunted noble fantasies for two hours just to get an Aura Lion and name it Sora. I really loved DDD, it was so much fun hanging out with the dream eaters and exploring Traverse Town and listening to the music. Also I loved playing as Riku hell yeah.
> 
> Title is not from anything, but I'm going to add a song anyways for fun: Higher and Higher by Jackie Wilson. Classic!


End file.
